*** Left Nut

EVERYTHING IT TAKES TO BE AN ASSHOLE

(One Way)

Lots of Boston bands around 1990 were looking to get signed or famous. But as far as anyone could tell, Left Nut really did it for the nookie, not to mention the cheap drafts. Which usually meant they were too busy getting blasted to get the details right -- how many bands would spend valuable studio time recording a pair of covers (Devo's "Mongoloid" and BTO's "Takin' Care of Business") that they haven't even learned, much less rehearsed?

This nine-song disc is the second Left Nut collection that One Way has released this year. Since each runs only 20 minutes, they probably should have been combined into one solid retrospective. But the band were less reined-in during the sessions collected here, so it's truer to the chaos of their live shows. Songs are built around obscure in-jokes ("Bread on the Fridge"), or the need for a good party ("Five-Day Weekend"). Along with the aforementioned covers, it includes their one true Boston classic: the title song, in which singer Norman Jabar comes up with some inventive ways to call himself a jerk ("A slap-happy dipshit, a picture-perfect dildo"). The band got into hot water more than once by dedicating this song to bands they were opening for. Dildos also figure into "Sex Toys," a song whose pick-up lines are about as clumsy as the ones that people heard at the Rat when these guys played.

-- Brett Milano